🇩🇴 The cattle breeds of the Dominican Republic

Cattle keep a low profile in Dominican cooking, which rests on rice, plantains, beans and root vegetables. The animals reach the table chiefly as beef, in tripe soup, tomato-based stews and deep-fried bulgur rolls, and as dairy: fried cheese beside the breakfast mash, and milk in puddings and dulce de leche.

• Sopa de mondongo is a soup made from beef tripe.
• Braised oxtail and cow tongue are usually made hot with Scotch bonnet chillies.
• Fried cheese, queso frito, is served with mangú, the national breakfast.
• Milk and cheese are the dairy foods Dominicans eat least of all.
• Carne mechada is a braise of tenderloin or flank.

Cattle in the Dominican Republic

Cattle keep a modest place in Dominican cooking, entering the kitchen chiefly as beef and dairy rather than as a topic of herding or breed lore. Beef fills the deep-fried bulgur rolls known as quipes, which Lebanese settlers adapted by using beef in place of lamb. It also sits in the tomato-based stews called guisados, and appears as braised cow tongue and oxtail, usually sharpened with Scotch bonnet or other chillies. A beef tripe soup, sopa de mondongo, belongs to the same table. Milk and cheese are counted among the food groups of the daily diet, though Dominicans eat less of them than of starches and meat. Cheese is fried to accompany mangú, the plantain mash that stands as the national breakfast, while milk goes into rice pudding, corn pudding and dulce de leche.

Milk, butter and beef

Beef and milk are the cattle products that surface here. Beef is minced into quipes, the deep-fried bulgur rolls of Lebanese origin, stewed into guisados, and served as braised oxtail and cow tongue, often heated up with Scotch bonnet chillies. Carne mechada is a braise of tenderloin or flank, and sopa de mondongo is a soup of beef tripe. Dairy carries less weight: milk and cheese count among the daily foods, yet people eat them least of all. Cheese is fried as queso frito for the breakfast plate, melts over the street snack yaroa, and layers into the rice pastelón. Milk goes into rice pudding, corn pudding and dulce de leche, milk cooked slowly until it caramelises.